Monday, February 24, 2014

So...homeschooling.

So this thing called homeschooling is hard some days, isn't it? Man, no one told me!! (Actually, I lived right next door to a lovely friend who did share her life and I did know how hard it was - and yet I decided to do it anyway!) Some hard things are worth doing, aren't they. Well, homeschooling is to me.

I don't pretend that I am an amazing teacher. I have subjects I really LOVE teaching (history and art) and others that are very hard for me (science and math). I struggle with teaching math and I actually understand a lot of algebraic content. Sometimes relating it to one child works one way and with another child it does not compute. Can you identify?

I was just relating to my friend which math programs I am using and I found, to my amusement, that I am using SIX different programs for four children.

I am using each of these with different children and as of THIS writing, all are working in the way I need them to be. Each child is using at least two different programs and they are hitting different areas that need work. This is a little bit crazy, but I am determined to get math under control this year. Some of my kids really struggle with math and others are just not particularly motivated. I get that. I was not a very motivated student myself so I can identify with that. That is where, "Being the MOM," comes into play. Math is hard to get motivated to do so we are doing a lot of it to get us motivated. Makes perfect circular sense, right? :D

No one knows that we are doing an art project at co-op on Wednesday, but I am pretty excited about it. We are going to be learning about Edvard Munch and his painting, The Scream. We will also be reproducing our own versions of it with chalk pastels.

I like to spend a lot of time reading about the artists we study when we discuss their artwork. Edvard Munch was not a happy guy. So many artists were so mentally tortured in one way or another and that is such a sad thing to me. Now I don't think of The Scream in the same way I think of Rembrandt's work as I am entirely partial to particular time periods, but I think it is important to study different art periods and work even if I don't love them. I am no longer surprised though, that so many of the artists were unhappy. It is too frequent to be overlooked. It is also sad to me when the artist's religious parent seemed to show none of the true grace of God towards his child.

Munch wrote, "My father was temperamentally nervous and obsessively religious—to the point of psychoneurosis. From him I inherited the seeds of madness. The angels of fear, sorrow, and death stood by my side since the day I was born."(Wiki)

What a truly horrible thing - that faith in the Savior of the world, the glorious King of Kings, would be translated to him in that way. It keeps me mindful that I focus on that which is true from Scripture--and not add man's laws or rules. We can do nothing to make ourselves right with God! As Romans 5:8 states, "...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We were dead in our sin and Christ died for us. That's what studying art does for you - gets you going on all sorts of tangents. Some of them may change your life.

1 comment:

Loved your thoughts on schooling! And I am eagerly anticipating co-op this week and learning more about Munch. Thank God for His grace! If it wasn't for His mercies, we would all be saying things like that.